A major blaze involving 40 tonnes of woodchip kept fire crews busy throughout the night.

The alarm was raised at the Egger UK plant, at Hexham, at 10.45pm and the work's firefighting team went in to action. They were joined by fire crews from Hexham, Allendale, Haydon Bridge and Prudhoe.

A spokeswoman for Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service said: "The fire was in a drying silo and involved 40 tonnes of woodchip. The fire was contained within the silo due to the built-in fire suppression system."

Twenty four firefighters were involved in the operation and two fire crews were still at the scene today. No-one was hurt.

Contents of the silo had to be removed as part of the operation.

The cause of the blaze was being investigated but the spokeswoman said early indications were that it was accidental.